2of 2Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) answers questions following the weekly policy luncheons at the U.S. Capitol on February 13, 2018 in Washington, DC. McConnell answered a range of questions focused primarily on the immigration reform efforts in the U.S. Senate. Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images

WASHINGTON — A Senate debate on immigration ground to a halt Tuesday with Republicans and Democrats unable to make any progress toward a deal, leaving no clear path to resolve the fate of hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants protected under a program set to expire March 5.

With Republicans leaders having set an end-of-the-week deadline to reach an agreement, Democrats objected that the GOP was taking up time with what they called an irrelevant amendment to punish “sanctuary cities,” like San Francisco, that limit law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration agents.

The two sides were coalescing around two competing proposals to protect young immigrants, but acknowledged that neither is likely to get the 60-vote supermajority needed to pass.

Both sides proclaimed their eagerness to make headway.

“We’re ready to get started,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who enabled the unusual debate to begin Monday night by opening an empty shell of a bill for immigration-related amendments.

President Trump tweeted Tuesday that “this will be our last chance” for Congress to negotiate the fate of undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as minors.

“Republicans want to make a deal and Democrats say they want to make a deal,” Trump tweeted. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could finally, after so many years, solve the DACA puzzle. This will be our last chance, there will never be another opportunity! March 5th.”

About 690,000 young immigrants are protected from deportation under an Obama administration program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Trump canceled the program last fall, giving Congress until March 5 to create a replacement. A federal judge based in San Francisco issued an order last month that preserves the program pending higher court review, and a second judge in New York issued a similar ruling Tuesday.

More on the Immigration Debate

Republicans want legislation that mirrors the “four pillars” of the White House framework. The bill, sponsored by seven Republicans, would provide a path to citizenship for 1.8 million young immigrants, including anyone who was eligible for DACA, more than twice the number currently enrolled.

In exchange, Trump wants $25 billion for border security, including a wall on the Mexican border; termination of the diversity lottery that awards 50,000 visas each year to people mainly from Africa, Central Asia and former Soviet states; and an end to the ability of future immigrants to sponsor relatives other than their spouses and minor children. The plan would allow processing of the current backlog of 4 million extended-family visa applications.

Most Democrats, including California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, strongly oppose restrictions on family visas. Feinstein said Democrats supported legislation “free of poison pills like changes to the legal immigration system.”

Schumer said Democrats were considering a measure that would allow young immigrants to sponsor their parents for citizenship. Republicans have argued that doing so would reward the people who created the DACA problem by bringing their children into the country illegally.

Schumer said Democrats broadly supported a “two-pillar” bill by Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and John McCain, R-Ariz., that would shield about 1.7 million young immigrants and provide for a “smart” border wall that relies more on sensors and other technology than physical barriers. That bill mirrors House legislation by Reps. Will Hurd, R-Tex., and Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands (San Bernardino County), that has 27 GOP House co-sponsors, including San Joaquin Valley Republicans Jeff Denham and David Valadao, both of whom have large Latino populations in their districts.

Schumer said that neither the Democratic nor the GOP proposals will garner “large bipartisan support” but that voting on them “will give us an idea of the parameters and get us moving.”

“Finding 60 votes for something that meets the needs of both sides ... is not easy,” Schumer said.

It was made all the more difficult Tuesday when McConnell sought a vote on an amendment by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania that would withhold federal funding from cities, including San Francisco and many others in California, that sharply restrict local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration agents.

“Sanctuary cities such as Philadelphia and San Francisco endanger all of us by conferring a special protection to illegal immigrants even when federal immigration officials identify them as dangerous criminals,” Toomey said. “This is simply inexcusable.”

Schumer blocked a vote, complaining that the measure “does absolutely nothing to address DACA, does absolutely nothing to address border security.” McConnell countered that Toomey’s proposal deals with “one of the most glaring aspects of our broken immigration system.”

A bipartisan group of moderates led by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is also negotiating potential compromises but has yet to deliver anything concrete.

Republicans showed no sign of relenting on their insistence that the White House plan is the only legislation that can pass the GOP-dominated House and be signed by the president. One of the Senate’s leading immigration hardliners, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Trump had already made compromises by expanding the pool of young immigrants who would gain legal status, and allowing 4 million relatives already sponsored by family members to get visas.

Cotton said the GOP proposal “is not an opening bid. It is is a best and final offer.”

The Senate is scheduled to recess next week for Presidents Day.

“We’ll need to wrap this up this week,” McConnell said.

Any measure the Senate passes would also have to make it through the House, where the majority Republicans include a large number of immigration hard-liners.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has said he will bring to the floor only legislation that Trump supports.

Carolyn Lochhead is the Washington correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle, where she has covered national politics and policy for 22 years. She grew up in Paso Robles (San Luis Obispo County) and graduated from UC Berkeley cum laude in rhetoric and economics. She has a masters of journalism degree from Columbia University.